After 10 long years of sitting empty in a key location in Lake Worth, the Gulfstream Hotel, a faded grande dame perched between the town’s raffish downtown and the Intracoastal Waterway, is finally inching toward a renaissance.
An approval of a rezoning request by the city’s Historic Resources Preservation Board advances the $60 million project to the city commission, which will take up the rezoning for a first reading on Tuesday. And, a year and a half after buying the property, developer Hudson Holdings is on the verge of submitting a definitive site plan, Steven Michael, a company principal, said Wednesday.
This is great news for a project that is important to a city that badly needs the economic boost. Lake Worth is a place of charming cottage houses, growing arts activities and a bohemian vibe. It also has the second-highest unemployment and poverty rates of any Palm Beach County municipality, according to city officials. Only Belle Glade is lower on the scale.